Harvesting apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

A harvesting apparatus and method includes a vehicle designed for operation along aisles between rows of low density young citrus trees for collecting, storing and transporting citrus fruit harvested by multiple workers moving along in front of the vehicle. The apparatus and method is more efficient and cost effective for harvesting citrus fruit from low density young citrus trees and eliminates pallet tubs and the vehicle boom required to empty and replace the tubs as used in the &#34;conventional harvesting method&#34;. The machine and method includes a large semi-circular tray preferably mounted at a level about two feet above the ground on the front of a self-propelled vehicle carrying a hopper. The tray is selectively removable to allow a tray of different size to be mounted on the vehicle to meet the harvesting conditions involved at given citrus groves. The bottom wall of the tray is sloped downwardly to gravity feed the picked fruit to the front end of the duct system, which pneumatically conveys the picked fruit to the hopper. Subatmospheric pressure is maintained within the hopper to generate air flow from the front end of the duct system into the hopper. The hopper is pivotally mounted on the rear portion of the vehicle for selective dumping of the picked fruit. The hopper may selectively be elevated before dumping to allow the harvesting vehicle to be used with different types of fruit transporting trailers and vehicles.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application No.07/572,153 which was filed on Aug. 23, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No.5,125,223, and which is entitled "Harvesting Apparatus and Method." Theentire disclosure of this application is hereby incorporated byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a self-propelled mechanical harvestingapparatus and method to enable multiple workers to more efficiently pickand collect citrus fruits from young citrus trees.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Citrus fruits are harvested by hand picking. In general, theconventional harvesting method for picking citrus fruit from low densitytrees uses pallet tubs, pick sacks and expensive in-grove vehicles withbooms for collecting and removing the picked fruit from the grove.

More specifically, the picked fruit is placed into a sack carried overthe shoulder of the fruit picker. The citrus fruit picker carries thefull sack of fruit to a pallet tub having, for example, a ten boxcapacity. The fruit picker empties about sixty (60) pounds of pickedfruit from the sack into the pallet tub and then returns to the nexttree with an empty sack to repeat the cycle.

The pallet tub is a means of collecting picked fruit in citrus groves. Alarge number of pallet tubs are placed in spaced relationship to oneanother throughout the grove in rows adjacent the trees to reduce thewalking distances involved to empty a fruit filled sack. A full pallettub weighs about 900 lbs. and is emptied by means of a field truck witha boom. The field truck is called a loader or goat.

The current method for harvesting, collecting and removing fruit fromcitrus groves containing smaller or younger trees requires pick sacks,pallet tubs and a loader to lift and empty the full pallet tubs and tothen reposition the empty pallet tubs. The process of collecting andremoving the picked fruit from the grove with the loader is called"road-siding". The loader is a modified truck equipped with a rotatablymounted hydraulic boom specifically designed to lift and empty a fruitfilled pallet tub into the loader's bed. Alternatively, the loader maybe modified to straddle the pallet tubs and either lift or place thosetubs through a specialized fork lift type mechanism, as shown forexample in U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,126. The loader's bed is supported by ahydraulic scissor lift which raises and pivots the bed to empty the loadof fruit into a trailer. The trailer hauls the fruit to the processingplant.

The distance between the respective pallet tubs in rows adjacent thecitrus trees is determined by the amount of citrus fruit on the trees tobe picked between the pallet tubs. Citrus groves with high fruit densitytrees, about 1,100 oranges per tree, require the tubs to be relativelyclosely spaced to one another. This close spacing increases theefficiency and productivity of a picker by reducing the walking distancefrom the tree to the pallet tub. Conversely, young citrus groves withlow fruit density, about 8 to 12 oranges per tree, result in the tubsbeing spaced further apart. The increased spacing requires the picker towalk with a partially full sack of fruit greater distances betweenpallet tubs. The cost of operating the loaders does not permit thedriver to work along with small groups of pickers for picking lowdensity trees. The equipment would either be idle or would inefficientlybe continuously moving partially filled pallet tubs as the pickers movefrom tree to tree.

A ten box pallet tub holds about 2,200 oranges which represents theaverage production from two trees that are eight to ten years old.Citrus groves with young trees that are two to four years old willaverage about eight to twelve oranges a tree per year. A citrus grovewith young trees with an average fruit density of ten oranges a treerequires a picker to harvest about two hundred and twenty trees to fillone pallet tub. Citrus trees are spaced about 16 feet apart requiring apicker to walk about 3,520 feet to fill one pallet tub. Citrus growersare charged two to three times the normal picking rate to have their lowdensity, young trees picked. As a result, most growers cannot afford tojustify the additional cost to have the fruit picked from their youngtrees until the trees reach a minimum production of about 30 oranges pertree.

A series of freezes during the past eight years substantially reducedthe number of high density groves and precipitated a sharp increase inthe number of newly planted citrus groves. Changes in the ImmigrationAct and the substantial reduction in the number of high density citrusgroves has made it extremely difficult and expensive to harvest citrusfruit from low density young citrus trees.

These freezes have caused the citrus industry to reconsider the plantingconfiguration utilized for new trees. Several groves have been plantedwhere the trees are planted more closely together in the rows and wherethe aisles between rows are narrower. For example, groves have beenplanted with trees spaced eight feet apart with fifteen foot wideaisles. This increased density is believed to provide some protectionagainst frost conditions and reduces the walking distances required forpicking these young trees having a low fruit density. However, thisincreased tree planting density also creates picking problems because itis difficult to move and position the bins and difficult to maneuver anduse the loader.

Some other machines to mechanize the harvesting of citrus fruit havebeen developed. However, these machines are best utilized on tallertrees having a high fruit density.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,957 discloses a fruit harvestingapparatus with a rotatably mounted extensible hollow boom on the frontsection of a vehicle. A man supporting bucket is carried at the outerend of the boom. The trough around the bucket guides the fruit picked bya man therein into the outer or distal end of the boom. Threetelescopically connected extensible ducts within the boom extend fromthe trough to a hopper. Subatmospheric pressure is used in theextensible ducts to pneumatically convey the fruit through theextensible boom to the hopper for bulk storage.

The fruit harvesting apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,957,which is exclusively licensed to the assignee of the present invention,will not allow multiple persons simultaneously to use the bucket toharvest citrus fruit. As the man supporting bucket of this patent movescloser to the ground, the radius of the flex duct connecting the troughto the outer opening of the duct at the distal end of the boom becomesincreasingly smaller. When the bucket sits on the ground, the smallradius of the flex duct restricts the opening for the fruit and limitsthe number of oranges that can flow into the pneumatic duct system. As aresult, the production from multiple persons harvesting fruit andplacing that fruit in the trough of the bucket at ground level will clogthe flex duct entry thereby preventing the efficient use of the boommachine for picking small young trees. In addition, the use of theextensible boom is relatively complicated, and the boom machine is moreexpensive to build and maintain than the present apparatus.

This problem with the capacity and use of the boom machine was at leastpartially addressed by providing several additional flexible pneumatichoses extending from the hopper. Pickers could walk beside the loaderand place picked citrus fruit into the additional hoses. However, thesehoses were awkward to use, were heavy to handle, and usually becomeclogged with citrus fruit.

Other examples of boom type harvesting machines are described andillustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,450,152; 2,821,312; 2,973,112;3,329,290; 3,523,404 and 3,633,336.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a fruit harvesting apparatus and methodfor harvesting young citrus trees with very low fruit density. The largetray attached to the front of the self-propelled vehicle has its bottomwall sloped downwardly toward the machine. The picked fruit when placedin the tray is gravity fed to the front end of the duct system. Thefruit is pneumatically conveyed through the duct system to the hopper onthe vehicle.

One advantage of the invention is that four to ten workers can walkalongside the machine, two to five on either side, simultaneouslypicking and continuously placing the picked fruit in the tray as themachine is driven down the row of trees being picked. The productionfrom a picker is increased because the invention reduces the distanceswalked and thus affords the picker more time and energy to pick fruit.The person driving the vehicle can also supervise the pickers and inpart control the speed of the picking process by controlling the speedof the vehicle.

Initial experimental field tests indicate that the vehicle with fronttray and the method o using the same will enable six pickers and oneperson driving the machine to harvest about 115,000 oranges a day fromyoung trees. The current method of using pallet tubs and a loaderrequires about 15 to 18 pickers and one driver to pick the same volumeof oranges from young trees in a day.

The invention eliminates the use of pallet tubs and specialized boomtype loaders to handle the tubs and the problems resulting from theiruse. These loaders are relatively difficult to operate, are difficult tomaneuver, are labor intensive, and are more expensive to acquire andoperate than the harvesting vehicle of the present invention. Byeliminating these tubs and boom loaders, a more efficient and costeffective method has been developed.

In addition, the width and size of the vehicle and tray can be customdesigned to work within the various planting configurations employed indifferent groves. The tray is removably mounted on the vehicle to allowa tray of different size to be mounted thereon. The tray is selected tohave dimensions compatible with the configuration of the grove beingpicked. For example, in a grove having narrow aisles, a tray of reducedwidth would be selected and mounted on the vehicle.

The harvesting vehicle also may have a vertically movable hopper. Byselectively elevating the hopper before dumping, the harvesting vehiclecan be universally used with fruit conveyance trailers of varying bedsizes.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent as the following description proceeds.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 schematic plan view showing the fruit harvesting apparatus of thepresent invention in operation with a picking crew moving along an aislebetween rows of citrus tress;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the fruit harvesting apparatusillustrating fruit being conveyed from the front tray through thetransfer duct system to the hopper;

FIG. 3 is a partial plan view of the fruit harvesting apparatus takengenerally along the plane 3--3 of FIG. 2 illustrating the semi-circularfront tray and the driver console area;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a tray removably secured to the chassis frameof a fruit harvesting vehicle;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of one of the selectively removable traymounts, with this enlarged mount being identified as to its positionrelative to the vehicle by the circled portion of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross section taken generally along the plane 6--6of FIG. 5 showing the L-shape mounting bracket for the tray;

FIG. 7 is a partial side elevation similar to the back end of FIG. 3illustrating alternative frame structure for selectively elevating thehopper relative to the vehicle;

FIG. 8 is a rear elevation taken along the plane 8--8 of FIG. 7 showingthe details of the fixed and movable frames selectively allowing thehopper to be raised or lowered;

FIG. 9 is a horizontal cross section taken on the plane 9--9 of FIG. 8showing the guidance of the movable frame relative to the fixed frame;and

FIG. 10 is a partial side elevation similar to FIG. 7 but showing thehopper in an elevated and pivoted position to dump the fruit into afruit transfer vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning now in more detail to the drawings and initially to FIG. 1, aplurality of young citrus trees 1 have been planted in close proximityto one another in a first row of citrus trees, identified generally bythe reference numeral 2. A second row of young citrus trees, identifiedgenerally by the reference numeral 3, has been planted substantiallyparallel to the first row 2. Parallel rows 2 and 3 of citrus trees 1define therebetween an aisle 4. Similarly, a third row of relativelyyoung citrus trees, identified generally by the reference numeral 5, isplanted in generally parallel relationship to the second row of citrustrees 3. The citrus trees in rows 3 and 5 define therebetween a secondaisle 7. A number of these generally parallel rows of citrus treesdefining aisles therebetween are planted on large plots of land to forma citrus tree grove.

As a result of several freezes over the past decade, many new citrustrees have been planted to replace trees lost in the freezes. The trendis to plant these new trees closer to one another in rows havingnarrower aisles therebetween. The present invention is directed to afruit harvesting apparatus, indicated generally at 8, and a method foroperating the same to economically pick fruit from low density youngcitrus trees planted in this more densely packed grove configuration.

The fruit harvesting apparatus 8 includes a self-propelled vehicle,indicated generally at 9, equipped with either two or four wheel drive,as required, for movement in either a forward or reverse direction. Thevehicle 9 has a semi-circular tray, indicated generally at 10, mountedto the front end thereof. Picked citrus fruit is placed in the tray 10by multiple persons, who have picked that fruit from the citrus trees infront of and immediately adjacent to the vehicle 9.

The citrus fruit picking crew normally consists of four to ten personsmoving along in front of or to the side of the vehicle 9. The vehicle isbeing driven along the aisle 4 in the direction of arrow 12. The size ofthe crew is dependent, among other things, upon fruit density, treespacing and manpower availability.

As shown, six persons, respectively identified as 13A-13F in FIG. 1, arebeing utilized for picking, with a seventh person, identified as 13G,driving the vehicle 9. Pickers 13A and 13B are removing citrus fruitfrom trees 1 in row 2 and placing that fruit into sacks (or othercontainers) carried on their respective shoulders. Pickers 13E and 13Fare shown as picking fruit from citrus trees 1 in row 3 and placing thepicked fruit in sacks carried over their respective shoulders. Pickers13C and 13D are placing the picked fruit from their full shoulder sacksinto tray 10. The driver 13G acts as a supervisor for the crew ofpickers 13A through 13F.

These pickers are usually immediately in front of and adjacent to thevehicle 9 and may be readily observed by and in oral communication withsupervisor 13G. By substantially continuously moving vehicle 9 in thedirection of arrow 12, the supervisor 13G is able to establish acomfortable picking speed for the pickers 13A-13F to control the speedof the fruit harvesting operation. The substantially continuous movementof the vehicle 9 also minimizes the distance between the respectivepickers 13A through 13F and the tray 10 to reduce the distance that thepickers must walk to deposit the citrus fruit from their filled sacksinto the tray 10.

This tray 10 is mounted on the vehicle 9 adjacent the ground at aconvenient height for the pickers to place the fruit into the tray. Atray height from the ground of from 2 to 21/2 feet would be preferredfor this purpose.

The picked fruit deposited in tray 10 is pneumatically conveyed from thetray 10 through a duct transfer system, indicated generally at 15, to agenerally cylindrical hopper 16 pivotally mounted on the back portion ofvehicle 9. The hopper 16 has a capacity to hold approximately 90 boxesof oranges. When the hopper 16 becomes substantially full, the pickedcitrus fruit temporarily stored in hopper 16 is dumped into a trailerfor delivery to a collection sight. The details of the vehicle 9, tray10, duct transfer system 15 and hopper 16 are best illustrated anddescribed in the context of FIGS. 2 and 3.

Referring initially to FIG. 2, the vehicle 9 includes a front chassisassembly 17 and a rear chassis assembly 18. The front and rear chassiesare hinged together as indicated at 19 to form a pivotal articulationaxis therebetween generally along the axial centerline of the vehicle toassist in steering. A pair of front wheels 21 are rotatably mounted onfront chassis 17, and a pair of rear wheels 22 are rotatably mounted onrear chassis 18. As is well known in the vehicle art, the front wheels21 can be driven, the rear wheels 22 can be driven or all four wheelscan be driven depending upon the desired application. A diesel engine 23is mounted on and contained within the front chassis assembly 17 todrive the hydraulic pumps which activates the hydrostatic device to turnthe wheels either forwardly or rearwardly. A fuel tank 24, as shown inFIG. 3, is mounted on the front chassis assembly 17 for supplying dieselfuel to the diesel engine 23.

The driving console section, indicated generally at 26, is positioned atthe front of vehicle 9 in a relatively elevated position to provide goodsight lines for the operator 13G. The driving console section 26includes a steering wheel 27 for steering the vehicle 9 and containsadditional conventional controls (not shown) for controlling thedirection and speed of the vehicle 9 during the harvesting process inwhich citrus fruit is deposited in the tray 10. In addition, the drivingconsole section includes actuators for controlling the dumping action ofthe hopper 16.

The tray 10 preferably has a semi-circular configuration in plan viewand may extend substantially the entire width of the vehicle 9. Avehicle and tray width of approximately eight feet may be advantageousfor younger trees planted in more dense configurations.

The tray 10 includes a semi-circular front wall 28, an open top, adownwardly sloping and curved bottom wall, indicated generally at 29,and a back wall 30. The bottom wall 29 slopes downwardly from the frontwall 28 to the back wall 30 adjacent the front part of the vehicle 9.The downward slope of bottom wall 29 is preferably at an angle of up toabout 20° relative to the horizontal. The bottom wall i also curved in afrusto conical sense to direct fruit radially inwardly toward the centerof the back wall. This sloped and curved bottom wall gravity feeds thepicked citrus fruit 31, which has been placed in tray 10 through theopen top thereof, rearwardly, downwardly and radially inwardly relativeto the vehicle 9, as generally indicated by the arrow 32 in FIGS. 2 and3.

The downwardly sloped bottom wall 29 of tray 10 may be formed intodiscrete sections 34 and 35, if desired. The first section 34 may have asteeper downward slope than second bottom section 35. By utilizing twobottom wall sections, the citrus fruit is gradually and gently conveyedrearwardly, downwardly and radially inwardly to the inlet of ducttransfer system 15 without damaging the fruit 31.

The tray 10 has a tubular flanged outlet opening 37 positioned at thebottom of back wall 30 of tray 10 at the center thereof. The tubularflange opening 37 is connected to the forward end of duct transfersystem 15. The duct transfer system includes a plurality ofinterconnected hollow duct sections.

The forward or first section 15A is a flexible elbow duct sealinglyconnected at its forward end to the tubular outlet opening 37 in tray10. The second rigid and straight duct section 15B of transfer system 15is sloped upwardly from front to back and extends between andcommunicates with first flexible elbow duct section 15A and thirdflexible elbow duct section 15C. Fourth rigid duct section 15D isgenerally straight and extends horizontally between and communicateswith third flexible elbow duct section 15C and fifth flexible elbow ductsection 15E. Sixth rigid and straight duct section 15F is slopedupwardly from front to rear and extends between and communicates withfifth flexible elbow duct section 15E and seventh elbow duct section15G. The rear end of flexible elbow duct section 15G is sealinglyconnected to tubular orifice 38 at the upper inlet end of hopper 16.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, the duct transfer system 15 includingduct sections 15A through 15G extend substantially along the axialcenterline of the vehicle 9. The flexible elbow duct sections 15A, 15C,15E and 15G permit the transfer system ducts to be elevated from thebottom of the tray 10 to the top of the hopper 16 in smooth accurategradations having relatively large radii to permit the smooth flow ofcitrus fruit therethrough.

The tubular orifice 38 may be 14 to 15 feet above ground level. Thefruit being pneumatically conveyed through the transfer duct system isthus elevated approximately 12 to 13 feet along the length of the ductsystem, which can run approximately 30 to 35 feet. The axial orientationof the duct transfer system with gradual curves being provided by theflexible elbow duct sections for elevation purposes permits a relativelylarge diameter duct to be used, for example eight inches, to reduceclogging and fruit bruising or damage. To move fruit through the ducttransfer system 15 from the tray 10 to the hopper 16, a pneumaticconveyance system is provided.

For this purpose, the hopper is provided with an outlet elbow 40adjacent the tubular inlet opening 38. Elbow 40 communicates between thecavity 41 of hopper 16 and a vacuum tube 42 extending along one sidewallof the hopper 16. The bottom end of vacuum tube 42 has a flange 43thereon which is normally sealed to a confronting flange 44 at the topof vertical vacuum tube 46. Vacuum tube 46 extends downwardly intoblower 47, which is run by a hydraulic motor 48 mounted on the rearchassis 18 of frame 9. The hydraulic fluid tank 49 is positionedparallel to and opposite from diesel gas tank 24, with the duct transfersystem 15 passing therebetween. The hydraulic fluid tank 49 contains areservoir of hydraulic fluid allowing the hydraulic motor 48 to beselectively run on a continuous basis to in turn continuously run theblower 47.

A variable speed blower 47 draws air downwardly through vacuum tubes 42and 46 to create a vacuum or subatmospheric condition within the cavity41 of hopper 16. The blower operation and vacuum condition createdthereby also draws air through the duct transfer system 15 from the tray10 to the hopper 16, as indicated by arrows 50. This air movementpneumatically conveys the citrus fruit 31 delivered to the entrance ofduct section 15A through the entire duct system and thence into thehopper. This pneumatic conveyance system delivers picked citrus fruitfrom the tray 10 through the duct transfer system to the hopper fasterthan pickers can deposit the fruit into the tray 10. Thus, the fruitharvesting apparatus 1 of the present system can be substantiallycontinuously used along the aisles of the grove until the hopper 16 issubstantially full of fruit. The pneumatically conveyed fruit passesthrough the tubular inlet opening 38 and enters the hopper, with theentrance orifice to elbow 40 of the vacuum tube system being covered bya screen or the like to preclude citrus fruit from being suckedtherethrough.

When substantially filled, the hopper 16 can be pivoted from its normalreception position illustrated in FIG. 2 to its pivotally elevateddumping position. To this end, the hopper 16 is pivotally connected tothe upper back end of rear chassis 18, as indicated at 52. Twotransversely spaced piston cylinder assemblies 53 extend between a backsupport frame 54 on rear chassis 18 and the sidewall of the hopper 16.Selective extension of the piston rods of piston cylinder assemblies 53is operative to pivot the hopper 16 about pivotal connection 52.

To provide clearance for this pivotal movement, the forward end of sixthduct section 15F and the rearward end of fifth flexible duct section 15Eare disconnected from one another. Similarly, flanges 43 and 44 aredisconnected from one another to uncouple vacuum duct 42 from vacuumduct 46. With these disconnections made, the hopper 16 is free toaccurately move around pivot connection 52 when the piston rod of pistoncylinder assemblies 53 are extended.

When the piston rods are fully extended, the hopper has been pivotallymoved to its dumping position. An outlet door 55 is positioned in topwall 56 of the hopper 16. With the hopper in its dumping position, thehopper wall 56 and fruit outlet door 55 are generally below the cavity41 of the hopper and directly above the bed of a trailer positioned toreceive the fruit. A piston cylinder assembly 57 is operative to openthe door 55 to allow the fruit to be gravity fed from the hopper 16 tothe bed of the trailer. In the dumping position, the hopper is inclinedupwardly from back to front at a gentle slope or angle to allow thefruit to gradually be gravity fed from the cavity of the hopper to thebed of the trailer.

On occasion, the fruit harvesting vehicle of the present invention willbe used with a fruit transporting vehicle having a higher fruitreceiving bed and/or higher trailer sidewalls. To provide compatibilitybetween the fruit harvesting vehicle and fruit trailers of all sizes,the hopper of the present invention in an alternative embodiment can beselectively vertically elevated prior to dumping, if necessary.

As viewed in FIGS. 7 through 10, the rear chassis assembly 18 includes afixed rear frame, indicated generally at 60, and a vertically movablerear frame, indicated generally at 61. The fixed rear frame 60 includesa base, fixed channel 62 extending horizontally across the width of therear chassis 18. The fixed frame further includes two parallel sidechannels 63A and 63B fixed to and extending upwardly from base channel62. As best shown in FIG. 9, the side channels 63 face inwardly towardone another to provide guidance for the selective vertical movement ofthe movable back frame 61.

The movable back frame 61 includes two generally vertically extendingparallel tubular side posts 65A and 65B. These tubular side posts areinterconnected and rigidified by generally horizontal cross memberscomprising lower cross angle 66, middle I beam 67 and upper cross beam68. Lower, middle and upper cross members 66 through 68 extend betweenand are connected to side posts 65A and 65B to form a rigid movable backframe assembly 61.

As best illustrated in FIG. 9, the tubular side posts 65A and 65B arerespectively slidingly received in channels 63A and 63B of the fixedrear frame 60 to permit relative movement therebetween. This verticalmovement of the movable rear frame 61 relative to the fixed frame 60 isselectively provided by a piston cylinder assembly 71 extending betweenbase channel 62 of the fixed frame and the middle I beam 67 of themovable frame 61. Extension of the piston rod of piston cylinderassembly 71 will elevate the movable frame 61 relative to the fixedframe 60, with such vertical movement being guided by channels 63A and63B on the fixed frame. Similarly, selective retraction of the pistonrod of piston cylinder assembly 71 will lower the movable frame 61. Theselective vertical movement of the vertically movable back frame 61 willresult in concurrent vertical movement of the hopper 16.

For this purpose, the transversely spaced piston cylinder assemblies 53have their distal end pivotally connected to lower angle 66 of the rearmovable frame. The piston rods of the piston cylinder assemblies 53 arepivotally connected at their respective proximal ends to the lower wallportion of hopper 16. The piston cylinder assemblies 53 thus extendbetween and are pivotally connected at their opposite ends to the rearmovable frame 61 and the hopper 16. Similarly, the transversely spacedpivotal connections 52 of the hopper 16 to the movable frame 61 arepositioned on the upper tubular beam 68 of that movable frame 61.Therefore, when the movable frame 61 is elevated, the connectionsbetween the movable frame and the hopper (as provided by the pistoncylinder assemblies 53 and the hinge connections 52) results in thehopper 16 concurrently vertically moving with the movable frame assembly61.

The operation of the mechanism for selectively vertically elevatinghopper 16 is believed apparent from the above description but isdescribed hereinafter in the context of FIG. 10 for purposes ofcompleteness. When the trailer body of the fruit conveyance vehicle hasan elevated bed and/or elevated sidewalls, the piston cylinder assembly71 is activated to vertically extend the piston rod 71A thereof toconcurrently raise the entire rear movable frame 61 and hopper 16. Whenthus elevated to provide an additional vertical clearance of up to 10feet (as required), the piston cylinder assemblies 53 are actuated.Vertical extension of the piston rods 53A of piston cylinders 53 pivotsthe hopper 16 about hinge connections 52 to the position illustrated inFIG. 10. In such position, the hopper is inclined slightly relative tothe horizontal from front to back. The outlet door 55 is opened to allowthe contained fruit to dump into the transport trailer in the directionindicated generally by arrow 73 in FIG. 10. When the dumping iscomplete, the piston rods 53A of piston cylinder assemblies 53 areretracted to pivot the hopper 16 about hinges 52 to return the hopper toits normal "picking" position. Piston rod 71A of piston cylinderassembly 71 is then retracted to lower the movable frame 61 to in turnlower the hopper into its position within the side framework on the rearchassis 18. The hopper 16 is then in position to have ducts 15 E and Fand flanges 43 and 44 reconnected in preparation for the next pickingcycle.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that changes may be made in thedetails of construction and configuration without departing from thespirit of the invention as defined in the following claims. For example,the tray 10 on the front of vehicle 9 can be adapted to allow the trayto be selectively removably mounted on that vehicle, as illustrated inFIGS. 4 through 6.

For this purpose, the back wall 30 of the tray 10 may have twotransversely spaced L-shape mounting brackets, indicated generally at75A and 75B, mounted thereto. Each of these mounting brackets isidentical and mounting bracket 75B is illustrated for purposes ofexplanation in FIGS. 5 and 6.

L-shaped mounting bracket 75B includes a vertical leg 76 and ahorizontal leg 77. Vertical leg 76 of the mounting bracket is fixedlysecured to the front surface of back wall 30 of tray 10. The horizontalleg 77 of L-shape mounting bracket 75B extends over and beyond the topof tray back wall 70. The horizontal leg 77 has a hole 78 positionedtherein selectively to cooperate with a fixed post on the frame of thefront chassis 17 of vehicle 9.

Such chassis frame includes a tubular cross brace 80 extendingtransversely of the vehicle near or at the front thereof. The tubularcross brace 80 has a vertically extending post 81 rigidly secured to itstop wall. The tray 10 is lowered into position with the post 81 beingreceived in the hole 78 in horizontal leg 77 on L-shape mounting bracket75. A retention pin 82 is then inserted through a bore 83 in theupstanding portion of post 81 to retain the mounting bracket 75B inposition. In such position, the horizontal leg 77 rests against and issupported by the top wall of cross beam 80 on the vehicle frame tothereby mount the tray to the vehicle.

When necessary, the tray 10 can be removed from the vehicle 9. For thispurpose, the retention pins 82 are withdrawn from vertically upstandingposts 81. The tray 10 is then sufficiently elevated for the horizontalupper legs 77 of the respective mounting brackets to clear the posts 81on the vehicle 9 to allow the tray to be removed. An alternate tray maythen be mounted on the vehicle 9.

This alternate tray may have a different configuration from the trayremoved. However, this alternate tray has mounting brackets 75A and 75Bof identical spacing. The alternate tray is lowered into position withthe holes on the horizontal legs 77 of the brackets respectivelyreceiving the vertical posts 81 on the vehicle frame. The retention pins82 are then placed through bores 83 in posts 81 to complete the mount.

The size of the alternate tray can be selected for the specific groveplanting configuration being picked in order to maximize the efficiencyof the harvesting system and method. For example, in groves havingaisles only slightly wider than the width of the vehicle, the width ofthe tray could be reduced. This width reduction would allow someclearance to the side and front of the tray to provide room for thepeople harvesting the trees.

In addition, the shape of the tray can be varied depending upon thecapacity desired therefor. The position of the tray or trays relative tothe vehicle can also be varied including, for example, alternate oradditional trays mounted to the sides or back of the vehicle. Thepresent tray system could also be added to a boom type picking andpruning machine to enhance its effectiveness for picking fruit fromyoung trees or from the lower portions of more mature tall trees.

We claim:
 1. A fruit harvesting apparatus comprising a vehicle, means tomove that vehicle along the ground, a tray which is mounted to thevehicle adjacent the ground to receive picked fruit, said tray includinga sloped bottom wall which conveys the received fruit to a first end ofa transfer system, a conveyor which conveys the fruit from said firstend of said transfer system to a second end of said transfer system,said second end of said transfer system depositing the fruit to saidhopper carried by said vehicle;wherein the hopper is pivotally connectedto the vehicle adjacent the back end thereof and may be selectivelymoved about that pivotal connection to remove the fruit temporarilystored therein; and wherein the vehicle has a rear vertically movableframe assembly, the hopper being carried by the rear vertically movableframe assembly to allow the hopper to be selectively elevated foruniversal compatibility with fruit transfer trailers of various sizes.2. The fruit harvesting apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein saidconveyor comprises a pneumatic duct system.
 3. A fruit harvestingapparatus comprising a vehicle having a front end and a back end, meansto move the vehicle along the ground, a tray, mounted to the vehicleadjacent the ground, for receiving picked fruit, a pivotable hopper,mounted to the back end of said vehicle, for temporarily storing thepicked fruit; and a transfer system for transferring the picked fruitfrom said tray to said hopper;wherein said tray includes a bottom walland a set of side walls extending from said bottom wall; wherein saidtray further includes a channel formed at least partially bychannel-forming sections of said bottom wall; wherein said transfersystem connects with the channel of said tray in such a manner that asmooth transition surface is formed between said tray and said transfersystem; and wherein said transfer system extends from a tray outlet tosaid hopper.
 4. A fruit harvesting apparatus as set forth in claim 3wherein said bottom wall slopes toward one of said side walls.
 5. Afruit harvesting apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said bottomwall connects with one of said side walls to form said channel to guidethe fruit to said tray outlet.
 6. A fruit harvesting apparatus as setforth in claim 3 wherein one of said side walls comprises a back wallpositioned adjacent said vehicle and wherein said bottom wall slopestoward said back wall.
 7. A fruit harvesting apparatus as set forth inclaim 6 wherein said bottom wall connects with said back wall to formsaid channel to guide the fruit to the tray outlet.
 8. A fruitharvesting apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said bottom wallconnects with one of said side walls to form said channel to guide thefruit to said tray outlet.
 9. A fruit harvesting apparatus as set forthin claim 3 wherein said bottom wall connects with said back wall to formsaid channel to guide the fruit to said tray outlet.